Behind the Scenes at the New York City Ballet

Get a sneak peek of the illustrious NYCB, including backstage warm-ups and intense costume design sessions.

Ballerina fantasies are pretty common around our office. And it makes total sense—we're pretty sure collecting pretty slippers and dressing in frothy pink is high up there on our list of appropriate hobbies. We never really achieved the painstaking grace that we so admire in natural dancers (although we’re not saying we don’t try when we actually make it to a scheduled Ballet Beautiful class), but we never really lost our obsession with the art form. (Exhibit A: Center Stage will always be on our list of favorite movies.)

So as soon as we heard that Cov-alum and Anna Wintour bestie Sarah Jessica Parker had coaxed four of our favorite designers to create the costumes for the New York City Ballet’s Fall Gala celebrations this year, we were pretty much banging down the door of the Lincoln Center to get a sneak peek. Thankfully, they were super obliging and we found ourselves getting the VIP tour just days before the big night (September 23).

We got a little taste of everything, from the dancers’ early morning rehearsal to the hallowed costume shop and the backstage dressing rooms, where we caught principal dancers Teresa Reichlen and Andrew Veyette warming up for a rehearsal of Clearing Dawn in costumes of Thom Browne.

“[Sarah Jessica Parker] thought it would be a good idea to use fashion designers for our Fall Gala, since the Fall Gala is exactly after fashion week here in New York,” said Marc Happel, the NYCB’s Director of Costumes. “Initially, the idea was to use young and up-coming designers, but our first one [in 2012] was Valentino so, you know, we went right to the top.”

Yeah, that’s right. When we said the costumes for the Fall Gala (during which four separate ballets are performed) were designed by four of our favorite designers, we meant Browne, Carolina Herrera, Mary Katrantzou, and Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen. Seriously.

“The choreographer gives them some idea of the ballet and they then take that away and come back with their interpretation of it. Thom Browne went away and came back with a very Thom Browne look,” Happel told us. “It's something you look at and go, that's Thom Browne. In some respect, you want that because otherwise you can get any old designer. If you're going to get a fashion designer you at least want it to have a feeling of that designer's work.”

When we think of our prepubescent, sequin-embroidered dance recital costumes, this is kind of the equivalent of dealing with couture, don’t you think?